I crossed yet another thing off of my To Do List yesterday! Colin and I got all of his Thank You cards made for his birthday presents. He wrote out all of the ones for his classmates himself and I helped him with the ones for family. This set is going to family and I stamped 8 of them.   The Late Night Stampers Challenge this week is to CASE a card from Sherrill’s blog.  The first card I made I CASED the shape of the dress.  The second card it was the sketch.  For this third card I decided to go with the color combo.  I found the second card in this post, by a fellow Design Team member, Gretchen Barron, and I loved the color combination.  So I chose to go with Pink Pirouette, Rose Red and Kiwi Kiss.  I threw in Whisper White as my neutral.  Since I needed to make so many and get them done quickly I went with the Fall to Layout #39 on the Clean and Simple Stamping blog.  I wanted them to be mailed in a standard envelope so I kept the size at 4 1/4 X 5 1/2.  The ones that are going to be hand delivered have nice big fluffy Pink Pirouette bows.  The others that need to be mailed were tied with a neat knot and the button was placed by the sentiment and not on top of the bow. The sentiment is from Trendy Trees. I used a nice bold Raspberry Tart pattern for my designer series paper.

The 2nd set is for Colin’s classmates who came to his party. We made 6 of these. I stamped the images in Chocolate Chip on Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa and Riding Hood Red.  The sprinkles are highlighted with a white gel pen.  They are nice, simple and to the point.  After I took my photo Colin filled them all in.  He did help stamp the cherries and helped to adhere everything together.  I tried to get him to help me stamp everything, but I guess toys are more important, especially new ones that he got at his party.

I have had a couple of people e-mail to ask why my signature is in a taupe square.  It appears that way in Google Reader because I made it to match the background of my blog post.  I could have made a clear background, but I messed up on a few pixels and when I saved it as a .gif it was not as clear as  wanted it to be.  I’m not re-pixelling it (drawing it square by square) so I’ll have to survive with it the way it is until I re-do my blog design.  That’s not happening anytime soon since I just changed it a few months ago. 

I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday!

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! and can be purchased on my Demonstrator Website: http://igotstamps.stampinup.net
Stamps: Trendy Trees
Paper: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Raspberry Tart dsp
Ink: Rose Red
Accessories: eyelet border punch, Pink Pirouette striped ribbon, linen thread, latte button, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Yesterday was a long day!  Roger went to work a little later than his normal time but he had to drive to Champaign for a conference.  That meant I was home by myself with both boys from noon on.  I have no idea how single parents do it.  Since I had less time to myself I multi-tasked and fit a few challenges into one card.  Not only is it the color challenge from SCS, it’s also the Late Night Stampers Challenge 17 and fits into the April Design Team theme.  I CASED the layout on this card from my fellow Late Night Stamper Design Team member, Tiffany Bauer.

I have a lot of layers going on with this card, so I’m not going to list them all.  I will point out some of my favorite details on the card.  I love the two layers of overlapping eyelet border punches.  The top Old Olive layer was run through my Big Shot with a Stampin’ Up! texture plate.  Before I ran the paper through I used a Brayer to ink up the texture plate with Old Olive ink.  It really makes the pattern stand out.  The darling leaf image as well as the lady bugs are fro Darling Dots, a Level I Hostess set.  I cut out the ladybugs and have them popped up on a dimensional.  My favorite thing about the card is the sentiment tag!  I inked up everything but the “friend” part on the image from the Oval All set.  I then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig and used just the “mother” part from Eight Great Greetings.  Now instead of having Fabulous Friend, I have Fabulous Mother. I colored it in with a blender pen and Old Olive and Real Red ink. 

If you have any questions please feel free to ask!  Have a great Wednesday.  I can’t wait until 5 pm.  That’s when Roger is supposed to be home and I know Colin and Evan are excited to see him.

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! and can be purchased on my Demonstrator Website: http://igotstamps.stampinup.net
Stamps: Darling Dots, Oval All, Eight Great Greetings
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black, Old Olive
Accessories: Big Shot, Texturz Plate, brayer, eyelet border punch, scallop and 1 1/4″ square punches, dimensionals, natural hemp twine, real red striped ribbon, Blender pen

I got so caught up in the Blog Tour yesterday I didn’t get a lot of time to stamp. I wanted to have something to post today so I decided a Clean and Simple Challenge was the way to go. Last week I missed a lot of challenges so it was time to try to catch up. This card was made based on this bedding from JC Penny’s.  I love the simplicity of black and white, but I was drawn to the framed print above the bed and wanted to recreate that.  I started with a 4 1/4 X 11 piece of Whisper White card stock and then layered it with a 4 X 5 1/4″ piece of Basic Black and again with a 3 7/8 X 5 1/8 piece of Whisper White.  I embossed a frame on the top piece of Whisper White using my Fiskars cutter with scoring tool.  Then to make it more pronounced I went over the lines with my Bone Folder.  The circle is the 3rd from the outside on my coluzzle.  I simply attached Basic Black, Going Gray and Basic Gray circles that were punched out with the 3/4″ circle punch.  I stamped on an extra Basic Gray one with Whisper White ink and the Sweet Serendipity stamp set.  I put a vintage brad through the center and have it up on a dimensional.  I simply trimmed the edges of the circles overlapping the coluzzle circle with paper snips.  The circle is then attached with dimensionals.  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the sentiment from Smarty Pants. 

I finished the entire card in about 15 minutes and some of that was spent finding the show Colin wanted to watch.  We are in for a rainy week, so hopefully I’ll get a lot of stamping done. 

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! and can be purchased on my Demonstrator Website: http://igotstamps.stampinup.net
Stamps: Smarty Pants, Sweet Serendipity
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Going Gray, Basic Gray
Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White craft
Accessories: 3/4″ circle punch, coluzzle, fiskars scoring blade, stamp-a-ma-jig

ETA: The blog tour links are now broken. I hope you enjoyed the April 27th tour!

Are you ready to go on a tour of the Occasions Mini catalog? I sure am! I am in love with all of the stamp sets, accessories and Big Shot dies it has to offer. If you arrived here from Tiffany’s Blog then you are on the right path.  I’m the 4th stop on the tour and there are a total of 19 stops.  I’m excited to show you the Great Friend stamp set.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I love butterflies, so of course this set was right up my alley.  When I sat down to create my card I wanted to showcase the stamp set and get another challenge done at the same time.  This card is a CASE of Lauri Seago and I found it on Sherrill’s blog.  The template from the dress is from Papercrafts magazine and is found online here.

To make this card I printed out the template on computer paper and then used Dotto to attach it to a 4 1/4 X 11 piece of Parisian Breeze specialty paper that was scored at 5 1/2 inches.  I simply cut out the dress and then I cut out the matching apron pattern from Vellum Paper.  I used the eyelet border punch on the bottom edge and then used the leaf image from a Great Friend and stamped it in White Stazon.  When the stazon was dry the butterfly was stamped in Not Quite Navy and the flight path was added with the help of the Priceless classy brass template and my paper piercer.  I wanted the vine to show through the butterfly so I wiped the Not Quite Navy ink off with a tissue.  I attached the vellum paper to the card with SNAIL adhesive and then tied on the Baja Breeze satin ribbon from the Valet Ribbon Originals card.  I added the “for you” sentiment in Chocolate Chip ink on a small oval Whisper White piece of card stock.  I tied it on with Linen thread and also used the same piece to tie on the Latte button.  To dress up the collar, hem and sleeves I used the scallop edge punch on a scrap piece of Baja Breeze card stock and then ran it through the crimper.  I then simply attached it to the card.  Crimping it allows you to bend it to make the neckline smoother. 

Did you know that if you spent $40 on Occasions Mini merchandise you can choose a FREE item from the “Under $10″ page of the catalog?.  This offer is good through April 30th, so place your Online Order for any of the items you see on the blog tour and take advantage of this offer. 

Are you ready to see more?  The next stop on the tour is on Renee Winch’s blog.  She is a brand new blogger, Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, cake decorator and florist.  She’ll be showing you the Summer Love Rub Ons from the Occasions Mini catalog.  Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy the tour.   Make sure you check out all of the blogs today because tomorrow the links will be gone!

Here are a few more of my favorite cards made with the Great Friend stamp set.

Mark April 27th on your calendars! That’s the date when you can hop onto my blog to see more examples of projects made with the Occasions Mini Catalog stamp Great Friend.

But wait, there’s more.

After you browse my examples, you’ll find a link to Renee Winch’s blog. She’ll be showing you how to use the Summer Love Rub Ons from the Occasions Mini Catalog!

But wait, there’s even more.

On Renee’s blog, you’ll find a link to yet another blog and examples from a different stamp set in the mini! There will be a banquet of ideas and beautiful projects. There are 20 stops on this tour, and you won’t want to miss a single one. The links will be available only on April 27th, so please don’t miss the bus.

But wait, yes, you guessed it, there’s more.

Because Stampin’ Up!’s “Getting Connected” promotion will still be running, spend $40 on Occasions Mini Catalog products and choose any one item from the “Under $10″ on page 208 in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog for Free.

Stay tuned, because there is more to come! Check back every day!

It’s an event not to be missed! This tour will take you all over the place! Be sure to hop on at my stop and then travel the road laid out for you! More surprises to come, so keep checking back!

Pack your bags on April 27th! You’re going to love the trip, and you won’t even have to leave your couch.

*Thanks to Lucia and Linda for coming up with the promotional photos and language for this tour!*

I have a little over 1 hour before Colin’s birthday starts and all of his 6 year old friends come to play at our house for 2 hours. I’ve never held a kids birthday party before. I think we will survive. I’m running behind because this morning was soccer registration. We asked Colin to put on his uniform from last year so we can see if it still fit to determine the size. He couldn’t find it so instead of asking for help he took every article of clothing he owns out of his dressers and threw them around his room. Right about then it started to rain. We had planned for an outside party. I had to clean up the inside and wouldn’t you know it, the sun is out again. At least it’s clean inside and out!

I CASED this idea from Carolina. You can find her directions here. I used retired dsp, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and Pretty in Pink cardstock. The ribbon is So Saffron Sale-a-bration ribbon. I didn’t have beads and Colin wanted his to have “sprinkles”. Being the good mom I am we ran to the craft store and I let him pick out the beads. I was paying for it last night because these were so tiny and are all in my carpet from when I accidentally dumped them.  The cherries are colored with Chocolate Chip and Real Red markers right on the Pretty in Pink card stock.  I added Crystal Effects to the top to make them shiny.

Inside I fit a Rice Crispy treat, a package of fruit snacks and a Dum Dum sucker.  Colin loves them and hopefully his friends will too. 

Have a fabulous Saturday.

Jenn

Yesterday I sat down to make my Teacher Appreciation Gifts. I had just gotten Lovely Letters for free, and the main reason I wanted it was to make Monogrammed Gift Sets. I think it’s the perfect size and it’s fancy but not too fancy. I made each teacher 4 cards with stamped envelopes and boxed them all up in gift boxes.  This first one is for Colin’s Kindergarten teacher.  I did used retired Summer Picnic designer series paper and Certainly Celery Sale-a-Bration ribbon.  I thought the apples were a good theme to go with.  I was planning on making them all of the same, but I ran out of paper, so I made a few versions sticking with the same package of designer series paper.  I also used Frames with a Flourish and used the 1 3/8″ and scallop circle punch.

This one was sent to school for the Parent Educator who comes and does Play Group for Evan in our home. I’ve known her since Colin was just over a year old.  I love how bright and cheery it turned out.

Of course I couldn’t forget Colin’s music teacher. He picked out the patterns for this set as he had gotten home from school while I was working on them.

All of the outsides were decorated exactly the same. I used Lauren Meader’s Captured Card Case template. I purchased it from Papertrey Ink.

I realized I hadn’t taken a photo of all of the sets together so I snapped this one quickly before we headed outside to play and then on to baseball practice. It’s not the best photo, but at least you get to see all of the sets. The “B” monogrammed sets are for Colin’s gym teacher and classroom assistant.

Tomorrow we are having a house full of 6 year old kids, so I’m off to get started on party favors. There is nothing like waiting until the last minute. Lucky for me I work well under pressure.

Happy Friday!

Jenn

I think spring may be here. The weather is warming up and the trees are starting to pop.  Yesterday I took the boys to the library and played outside.  It was a good day beside the headache that snuck up on me.  I’m not one to get many, but it was so bad that my scalp hurt.  I decided to not even stamp.  Today is a new day and hopefully the headache will stay away.

For this card I combined the Technique Challenge on Stampin’ Addicts with the Sketch Challenge from Late Night Stampers.  Can you believe I’ve never tried the watercolor wash technique before?  I don’t know why because it was so easy.  I sprayed water onto my Stampin’ Up! watercolor paper and then used my AquaPainter to brush Baja Breeze ink over the entire layer.  When it was dry I sponged the edges with the same ink.  I then stamped the image from Soft Summer in Chocolate Chip craft ink and heat embossed it with crystal clear embossing powder.  I wanted nice bold colors so I used re-inkers to color in the image even though it does have the 2 step stamp to fill it in.  I used Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Summer Sun and Close to Cocoa.  I put crystal effects into the center of my flowers.  The main image layer is mounted on Close to Cocoa card stock that has been punched with the eyelet border punch and then had a Pink Pirouette striped ribbon attached to it.  I mounted it to the card with dimensionals.  To make the base I used Close to Cocoa card stock.  I layered Riding Hood Red cardstock with Candy Lane designer series paper.  I paper pierced around the edge before attaching it to the base of the card.  To dress it up I added a button with Linen Thread and stamped the sentiment right on the card with Chocolate Chip ink using the One of  Kind stamp set.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday!  I’m starting to get ready for Colin’s birthday party with his friends this weekend.  I need to get a start on the treat bags today.  I’m using Simple Birthday Thanks for that to match his invitations.

Jenn

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! and can be purchased on my Demonstrator website: http://igotstamps.stampinup.net

I have been having fun playing with this sketch, which is the challenge on Late Night Stampers this week.  I was playing along with the heart from Best Wishes & More and a vision of a “Mom” tattoo popped into my head.  I took that idea and ran with it. 

To make this card I started with a Rose Red card stock base and then layered on Regal Rose, followed by two patterns of paper from the Raspberry Tart designer series paper package.  I tied on a Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon and then used my Big Shot to cut out the cute little buttons.  I love that sizzlet die.  I attached them to the card and then added crystal effect to them to make them nice and shiny and appear more like real buttons rather than Rose Red card stock.  I created my main image panel by using Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White.  The hearts are stamped on Whisper White.  Two are stamped in Pretty in Pink and then are rock n rolled in Regal Rose.  The middle heart is stamped in Regal Rose and then rock n rolled in Rose Red ink.  I  added the ABC lower alphabet to spell out “mom” in Chocolate Chip ink.  They are up on dimensionals.  I used the My Way punch to add the arrow on both sides and then decorated the end with strips of paper.  The sentiment tag is stamped with the A Happy Heart stamp set.  I used 1 3/8″ circle punch for the Whisper White layer and then punched out a Chocolate Chip scallop circle and trimmed the scallops to mat the layer.  I added a 1/4″ circle of Rose Red, natural hemp twine and Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon to dress the sentiment tag up.

Next Monday, I’m taking part in a Blog Tour!  You will get to see samples of products featured in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini catalog.

Mark April 27th on your calendars! That’s the date when you can hop onto my blog to see more examples of projects made with the Occasions Mini Catalog stamp Great Friend.

But wait, there’s more.

After you browse my examples, you’ll find a link to  Renee Winch’s blog. She’ll be showing you how to use the Summer Love Rub Ons from the Occasions Mini Catalog!

But wait, there’s even more.

On Renee’s blog, you’ll find a link to yet another blog and examples from a different stamp set in the mini! There will be a banquet of ideas and beautiful projects. There are 20 stops on this tour, and you won’t want to miss a single one. The links will be available only on April 27th, so please don’t miss the bus.

But wait, yes, you guessed it, there’s more.

Because Stampin’ Up!’s “Getting Connected” promotion will still be running, spend $40 on Occasions Mini Catalog products and choose any one item from the “Under $10″ on page 208 in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog for Free.

Stay tuned, because there is more to come! Check back every day!

It’s an event not to be missed! This tour will take you all over the place! Be sure to hop on at my stop and then travel the road laid out for you! More surprises to come, so keep checking back!

Pack your bags on April 27th! You’re going to love the trip, and you won’t even have to leave your couch.

*Thanks to Lucia and Linda for coming up with the promotional photos and language for this tour!*

Have a Great Wednesday!

Jenn

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! and can be purchased on my Demonstrator Website: http://igotstamps.stampinup.net

I love the Scene in a Garden stamp set, but I love to watercolor. One of my favorite images in this set are the boots and when I saw this fabulous card in Brandi’s gallery I filed away the idea for future use.  I paired it up with the sketch challenge from Late Night Stampers and the card just fell into place. 

I started wih a Kiwi Kiss base.  The next layer is Chocolate Chip and two sides of the Bella Rose designer series paper.  I used my sewing machine on the layer and then tied on my Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon.  I added a Latte button and the linen thread is tied around the knot.  A mini glue dot holds it more securely in place. 

I made the main image layer by stamping the boots repeatedly in Basic Gray ink using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to keep it all lined up.  Like Brandi I spotlighted a set of boots.  I colored them in with my AquaPainter with Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango and Pacific Point ink.  I layered it on a 1 3/8″ chocolate chip circle and then popped it up on dimensionals.  I added some paper piercing and then added it to the card base with more dimensionals.  I added the sentiment tag from One of a Kind on a Key Tag punch.  The outside is sponged with Kiwi Kiss ink and then tied on with natural hemp twine.   Dimensionals secure it in place.  Finally I added the Boho Flowers in Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango and Pink Pirouette.  I then used silver brads in the centers and attached them with mini glue dots.  I think it can make a perfect Mother’s Day card. 

It’s so nice to be back in my room stamping after taking a few days off over spring break.  Sometimes a break is good. It’s much easier to get back to then my treadmill.  That’s a whole other story, but I was dragging yesterday after having taken more than a week off from that.  Now that I’m back on track with stamping I might as well get back to my exercise routine too.  Now that I’ve told you I can’t slack on either of them. 

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Jenn

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! and can be purchased on my Demonstrator Website: http://igotstamps.stampinup.net